He might be an obvious choice to begin with, but once you see Vijay Singh's recent history at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, you have to think he's a strong favorite to win. In his last four AT&T starts, Singh has finished second twice and T8 and T10. In addition, he finished T8 when the U.S. Open was played at Pebble Beach in 2000.

When Mike Weir won last week's Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, it made it two consecutive seasons that a lefty won the event. It's only happened four times before -- THE TOUR Championship (Phil Mickelson/Weir, 2000-2001); Buick Invitational (Mickelson/Mickelson, 2000-2001); Chrysler Classic of Tucson (Mickelson/Mickelson, 1995-96) and the Greater Hartford Open (Mickelson/Mickelson, 2001-2002).

Pat Perez nearly tied the PGA TOUR record for birdies in a 90-hole event last week when he recorded 36. That's just one shy of Tom Kite's 1993 record of 37, also at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

One more on Perez: During one stretch of last week's tournament, Perez made 11 birdies in a 12-hole stretch over the first two rounds.

There's no record kept of such things, but a search of records incidates that when 1987 Houston TOUR event winner Jay Haas shot 61 last week at age 49, he became the oldest player to shoot a score that low in a PGA TOUR event.

How did Mike Weir do it? One thing he did extremely well in winning last week in the desert was hit his short irons in close enough to make birdie. From 126-150 yards, Weir birdied 71.4% of the holes. The TOUR average from that distance last week was 21.4%.

Of course, the international victory streak continues as well. That's six in a row won on the PGA TOUR by international players. Who was the last American to win? Jonathan Byrd at the 2002 Buick Challenge.

CHAMPIONS TOUR

Bruce Lietzke tied a Champions Tour record last week by making three eagles in the second round of the MasterCard Championship. He's the first to do it since Rocky Thompson in 1992 and only the fourth overall.

Arnold Palmer shot his age (73) in the first round of the season-opening MasterCard Championship. Not to be outdone, 67-year old Gary Player fired a second-round 67 to match Palmer's effort.

When Dale Douglass tees it up this week at the Royal Caribbean Classic, it will mark the 500th career start for him on the Champions Tour.

Including his winnings last week, Hale Irwin has made a nice career for himself in Hawaii. In his PGA TOUR and Champions Tour career, Irwin has collected $3,278,975 playing in the islands.